Subject of this Top 10 list is spam

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, January 9, 2006

Remember this scam? In the 1990s, e-mail hoaxers commonly claimed to be passing along a method for getting easy money from Bill Gates. While that particular fraud has faded, the spam-fighting team at America Online says celebrity-based variations continue, even as spammers get more sophisticated.

According to AOL, one of the most prevalent spam subject lines in 2005 was "Donald Trump Wants You -- Please Respond." Another frequent pitch played on the belief that the tech world just gives stuff away to people in the know: "Get an Apple iPod Nano, PS3 or Xbox360 for Free."

AOL's list of the top 10 spam subject lines, admittedly non-scientific and not ranked in any order, was released last week to offer a snapshot of the kinds of unsolicited commercial e-mail that still floods many in boxes.

Stock scams, phony transaction records and cheap offers for everything from pharmaceuticals to mortgages were among the other most common brands of spam in 2005.

Spam-detection experts at AOL and other companies say these pitches are emerging from tightly run scam rings that are getting more savvy at using "zombie" PCs -- regular people's computers surreptitiously compromised by viruses and other vulnerabilities -- and other methods to hide their tracks.

The best protections remain the same: Keep anti-virus software up to date and don't open links or attachments in dicey-looking e-mails.